Safety device for box-ending machines and like presses



1. I. ROBINSONAND G. E. GOODING.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR BOX ENDING MACHINES ANI) LIKE PRESSES.

I APPLICATION FILED .IULYZS. I918.

Patented Feb. 3,1920. a SHEETSSHEEI 1.

flae7wu' aohwflrflmuoum I. TJROBINSON AND G. E. (momma SAFETY DEVICE FOR BOX ENDING- MACHINES-AND LIKE PRE SSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25. 1918.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Patented Feb. 3,1920.

1. T. nosmsou AND E. eoopme.

. SAFETY DEVICE FOR BOX ENDING MACH INES AND LIKE PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25. ms.

1,329,431. Patented Feb. 3,1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- N N N: g in :5 f6 37 H 1 I j 20 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. ROBINSON AND GEORGE E. GOODING, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS; SAID GOODING ASSIGNOR TO SAID ROBINSON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 3, 1920.

Application filed July 25, 1918. Serial No. 246,680.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN T. ROBINSON and GEORGE E. GooDINc, both citizens of the United States, residing at Boston,

county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts,

have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Safety Devices for Box-Ending Machines and like Presses, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention relates tosafety devices for box ending machines and like presses. As is well known to those skilled 16 in the art, operators on box ending machines and similar presses, frequently have their fingers crushed or damaged by getting them between the box form and the platen or head. Attempts have heretofore been 20 made to provide safety devices to prevent such accidents and which operate by stopping the machine in case the operators finger is interposed between the boxform and the platen. Such devices have not been successful for various reasons, chiefly because of the difliculty of stopping a heavy rapidly moving machine, in the time permitted by the circumstances, and secondly, because such devices usually interfere to 80 some extent with the operatives freedom of action in running the machine. As is well understood by those skilled in the art, operatives will remove safety devices from machines and run the machine in a danger- 86 ous unprotected condition rather than allow their earnings to be reduced or their convenience to be interfered with by a safety device.

The present invention has for its object a safety device for box enders and similar presses which does not stop the machine but renders the pressing members inoperative and furthermore to provide a safety device which shall not interfere in the slightest 46 degree with the operatives freedom of movement. To this end the invention consists in providing mechanism by. which one or the other of the press members is rendered freely yielding whenever anything is interposed. between the press members. After the press member has been rendered freely yielding suflicient pressure cannot be exerted by the other press member to injure the operators finger. To render the i6 freely movable press member rigid to resist the action of the moving press memher, a slide moved in time with one of the press members is provided, and is so arranged that whenever the cooperatingpress member is. displaced theslide cannot be 60 moved into position to support the freely movable press member. In other words, the dlsplacement of the freely yielding press member prevents the support for said memher which is moved time with the machine being moved into position to perform its function of support. Byv this mecha-, nism, It. is not necessary to stop. the machme 1n case the operatives finger gets in the way, since the auxiliary pressor platen being. then freely movableand unsupported offers practically no resistance. While the invention is described herein in connection with a box ending machine, it will be understood that it is applicable to other forms .of presses; furthermore the invention is not limited to its application to a press. one. member of which only is movable, since it is equally applicable to presses in which both members move The invention will be fully understood by reference to the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features thereof will be pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at .theclose of this specification. In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a box ending machine embodyingmy invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the machine shown in Fig. 1. v i Fig. 3 is a front elevation ofthe top of the machine,.showing the parts in the position occupied by them during the pressing operation.

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the action of the machine in case the operatofls finger .is interposed between the box form and the freely movable press member.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the machine embodying our invention in modified form.

Referring to the drawings, at 11 is shown the frameof the machine. On-the upper part of the frame of-the machine, is su ported acrosshead or platen 12 which in the type of press shown in the drawings, furnishes a relatively immovable member or abutment against which the movable press member or box form 13 operates. The box form is carried on a ram 15 operated by follower 31.

mechanism which it is not necessary to describe herein. It will be understoochthat the body of the box is placed about the box form 13 and the box end is positioned underneath the platen after which the ram rises and unites the two parts of the box by subjecting them to heavy pressure.

At 16 is shown a second press member which is freely movable except when the box form has reached a point nearer the said freely movable press member than the thickness of a finger. The freely movable press member is provided with trunnions 17, each engaging a sliding block 18 vertically movable in slots 19formed in the frame of the machine. This permits the member 16 to be moved vertically or to betiltedor rocked. The member 16 may be counterweighted by means ofweights 20 connected to it by chains or other flexible connections 21, running: over pulleys. 221 counterbalancinp; of'the- "member 16 is to make it freely yieldingsothat a touchon the underside will displace it vertically. If this counterbalancinp-were not provided, the operatofisfinger might be injured as the inertia of theplaten; especially if the freely movable member be of large area and heavy construction might be enough to offer suflicient resistance to injure the operators finger. I

Between the freely movable press member 16 and the cross head'or fixed press mem= ber 12 is placeda slide or support 23 movable horizontally in time with the machine by means of a bell crank 2el, pivoted at 2f.

and having a fork 26: engaging a bloclrfZi pivoted to lugs 28 on the upperside of the slide123. The bell crank 24: is connected to one end ofa. connecting rod 29 the other end of which is attached to a cam lever-30. The cam lever 30 is provided with a cam On the main driving shaft 32 of the machine is a cam 33 which acts on the cam follower Q-llI At 31- is shown a spring, one end of'w-hich engages a collar 35 onthe connecting; rod 29 and the. other end of which rests on an abutment on the frame of the machine. l

The mechanism just described is such I that when the roll 31 drops on the high point of the cam 33. the, sprinq- 34 causes the bell crank 2-1'to more the slide 23 to the left as shown]. in Fig. 1.. This mechanism causes the slide :23 to be moved in'time with the movement of the -ram'.'

On the upper side of the freely movable press member 16 and on the underside of the slide or support-23 arelocated coepe ating projections 87 and 38,- there being spaces between they said projections suflicient to permit the proiections of the other mein her to enter.- Theproiections on the side of each member are finished as shown at a,

while the projections onthe other member The object of the are cut away slightly as shown at b thereby forming" a line contact when the sides of the projections are in contact as shown in Fi ,4. This is for the purpose of reducing the friction, when the surfaces come togethcr to the lowest possible amount.

The machine embodying our invention operates in the following manner:

As tl e main shaft rotates and moves up the ram 15 and box form 13, the cam 33 revolves. When the box form has reached a position close to the underside of the freely movable member 16 but not close enough to cause the paper box to contact with the said memben the cam roll 31 drops off the high point of the cam 33 and the spring 3 1 moves the slide 23 to the left, as shown in Fig. 1. This movement of the slide is very slight be ing only a little more than'the width of the top of the projections 3 88 hen the slide has been moved over, it occupies the position shown in Fig. 3, and at 'this time the corresponding members oft-1e two sets of projections are in registration with each other so that the slide forms a support in terposed between the freely movable press nemb'er 16 and the head 12; The pressing then takes place in the ordinary n'anner.

In case the operators finger is between the box form and the underside of. the freely movable'press member, the operation of the machine is as follows:

The box form moves up until the operators finger is brought intocontact with the underside of the member 16. The further moven'ient ofthebox form causesthe operators finger to lift the freely movable press member slightly; This takes place without causing any considerable pressure on the operators finger because the member is care fully counterbalanced and fre'e'ly yielding. The further upward movement of the box form causes the operators fingers to lift up the freely movable press member. This takes place before the slide 23 lias bee'n moved to the left by the cam 33. When the projections 37 have beenfmoved up so that their tops are above the lower faces of the projections on the underside ofthe slide the projections prevent the further movement of the slide into a position to resist the move ment of the freely movable press member. During; all-this time themember 16 is freely movable and therefore no injury can be done the operators finger. v i

In Fig. 5 there'is' shown a slightly modified form of our invention' In that figure the freely movable press member is shown at40 and is provided on its upper surface withprojections 41. Between the cross head 42 and the fr ely movable member 40 is in terposed a series of swinging projections 43, all actuated by a bar 1-4- on which is a pair of lugs 45 carrying a block l6 engaged by a forked arn'r 47 of a bell crank 48. Except for the above described mechanism the structure of this device is exactly the same as that described in connection with Figs. 1 to 4: inclusive.

It will be seen that if the freely movable member 40 is displaced even very slightly, the swinging fingers 43 will be prevented from moving into position to support the freely movable member.

All the mechanism comprising our improved safety device in either of the forms shown may be easily concealed by a suitable housing and when so concealed the machine has practically the same appearance as the machines which are not provided with safety devices. Furthermore, the operator has exactly as convenient access to the box form or press member as he has when no safety device is used. The safety device does not hamper the operator in any way nor does it reduce the speed of the machine, or the operators quickness of movement, and therefore there is no incentive for the operator to remove the safety device from the machine or to tamper with it.

WVhat we claim is:

1. In combination two press members, one of which is freely movable, counterweights for said freely movable press member, and mechanism operated in time with the machine to render the said member immovable when the other of said press members has approached within a predetermined distance.

2. The improved box ending machine having a cross head, a ram, a press member between said ram and said cross head, counterweights acting on said member to render the same freely movable and mechanism operated by the ram to render said freely mow able member immovable whenever the ram has reached its predetermined position.

3.In combination, a cross head, a ram, actuating mechanism for the ram, a freely movable press member interposed between the ram and the cross head, a slide interposed between the freely movable press member and the cross head, a cam rotating with the ram actuating mechanism, a cam follower, connections between said cam follower and the said slide and a spring holding the cam follower in contact with the cam so that when the cam reaches a predetermined point the spring will actuate the connecting mechanism to interpose the slide between the freely movable member and the cross head and render the slide immovable.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

JOHN T. ROBINSON. GEORGE E. GOODING. 

